1885 



GLEANmGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



3-11 



son why we did not was that, havhig so manv 

 colonies in one locality (400 to 500), our field 

 is overstocked, and they consumed pretty 

 much all they gathered" — honey-dew with 

 every thing else. Selling bees constantly by 

 the pound, as we do, tends to work up al- 

 most all natural stores into brood, leaving 

 the way open for sugar feeding.— We use 

 principally the bread-pan feeder, figured on 

 page 32 of our price list. To keep the bees 

 from drowning, a piece of cheese-cloth is 

 laid loosely over the top. We do not clip 

 our queens' wings at all. You know we 

 rarely have any swarming, because we keep 

 selling our bees by the pound to such an ex- 

 tent that a hive seldom gets sufficiently pop- 

 ulous.— We do not use an enamel cloth for 

 wintering — only the sheet of coarse burlap 

 mentioned before. After putting on this 

 sheet of coarse l)nrlap we put about a peck of 



M. BLANTON. AND THE PLACE 

 WHERE HE LIVES. 



A VIEW AMONG THE BEE-HIVES. 



OU remember friend Blanton. I suppose. 

 '^1 He is the man who helped Bro. Jones 

 W'^ play tricks on me when we were down 

 in Cincinnati ; said he w^ould stop us- 

 ing tobacco : said he wanted a smoker, 

 etc. Well, he got the smoker. By the way, 

 j I tliink he got several smokers. I should 

 I think he would need several, shouldn't j'ouV 

 1 Just look at his bee-hives. He is the 'man 

 ! who has them stuck up on stilts, you know. 

 i Dr. B. gave me the picture that I had the 

 above engraving made from when we were 

 j»in New Orleans. He had quite a lot of pic- 

 ' tares, and I picked this out from among 

 tliem. 1 asked him if it was because of high 

 water that he stuck them up on stakes in 



IJLAMO.N 



AIMAKV. (iUEKNVlLLK. Ml>.- 



loose chaft around the edges, making it im- 

 possible for the l)e('S ever to i)ush up, and so 

 get around the ventilators in the cover.— We 

 have not raised any section honey for some 

 years, of any account. — We do not use any 

 kind of oil cloth for hive-covers. Tin costs 

 but little more, and we think it much the 

 cheapest in the end. 



I shall have to explain to our readers, that, 

 some time ago, in response to a letter from 

 Mrs. Axtell, we sent a barrel of ladies' hats, 

 to be used in the mission work in the Indian 

 Territory. These hats were old ones, such 

 as can be found in almost anybody's garret. 

 Mrs. A.'s explanation tells wliat became of 

 them. Our factory hands will at oiu'c scrape 

 up another barrel t'ul or more; and if any of 

 the bee-friends feel like assisting in the good 

 work, Mrs. A. will give the required direc- 

 tions as to where they are to be sent, 



that way, and he said no. it was only to have 

 them handy. He is (piite a big man, and I 

 suppose it makes him red in the face to 

 stoop over, so he has got all the bee-hives 

 " histed ujt like." Yoii notice he has lots of 

 trees around too. Yes, and there is one 

 stump. I do not like stumps ; they bother 

 our sulky plow. I guess, however, tlie doc- 

 tor does not plow any around that stump. 

 Sometimes his bees swarm and hang upon 

 those trees. That is what he lias that step- 

 ladder for. Well, you see it takes an awful 

 sight of legs to put legs on so many hives, 

 and so he has two hives on one set of legs, 

 in some i)laces. I wish he would tell us if 

 he likes them as well made that way. Come 

 to think ot it, I rather expected he would 

 write a letter to go along with this picture ; 

 but may be he will send us one to be put in 

 next time. 



